Use two-factor authentication(2FA/MFA)

Use 2FA/MFA everywhere that you can. Your banking systems, Twitter, and Facebook all support the ability for you to enable an additional security feature that you may not be using. You can enable it by going to your settings. This way every time you log in from a new place you’ve never logged in from before you’ll use a security code from a special program or a text message to go into that system as a second form of verification. Why is that important? It is important because if a hacker gets access to your password, they must have access to your phone or hardware security token to get access to your account.

 

Do not use the same password everywhere.

I know it is hard, but using the same password everywhere is one of probably the easiest ways that we break in as hackers. So, if you have the same Facebook password as your banking information, those are things that can get you in some serious trouble. A password manager solves this problem and can make passwords easy to manage, this way you won’t have to worry about remembering as many credentials.

 

Apply security patches to computer and software

Every time you have a Windows update that says, “I need to update your computer” it’s usually to fix a known attack that hackers are using to back into computers. Keep your computer up to date. Same thing for applications and programs. If you are using Java, Adobe, PDFs, Office documents, those are things that you want to keep up to date. It makes it much harder for hackers to break into your system.

 

Social media & personal information

Be careful with what information you share online.  Attackers look at all publicly available information when targeting an individual. Sharing too much online can help an attacker identify when you’re going to be out of the country, or when you’re going to be at a business meeting. We can use that as a method to attack you. One of the main things that hackers do, especially when it comes to social engineering is creating a sense of urgency and use all the information that you post online against you.